Biography

Ann Markusen, professor, is the director of the Institute's Project on Regional and Industrial Economics. Currently, her research focuses on occupational approaches to regional development, and on artists, arts organizations, cultural industries, and cultural activity as regional economic and quality-of-life stimulants.

Before joining the Humphrey School, Markusen was State of New Jersey Professor of Urban Planning and Policy Development at Rutgers University. She has held faculty positions at Northwestern, the University of California at Berkeley, and the University of Colorado. Markusen has been an economic policy fellow with the Brookings Institution and a research economist with the office of the Michigan Speaker of the House. She was a Fulbright Lecturer in regional development economics in Brazil and has written on European, Korean, and Japanese regional economies as well as on North American cities and regions. From 1995 to 2002, she served as a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York and in 2002, as a Visiting Fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California. Markusen recently served three years as the Harvey Perloff Chair in the Urban Studies Department at UCLA and is currently serving a six year term as A. D. White Professor-at-large at Cornell University. In 2010-11, she occupied the prestigious UK Fulbright Distinguished Chair at the Glasgow School of Art, working out of its Urban Lab. She serves on the Advisory Board of the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project.

Markusen served six years on the Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy and as chair from 1998-2000. She was elected president of the North American Regional Science Association in 2000. In 2001-02, Markusen served as a member of the President's Commission on Offsets in International Trade. She won the McCoy Award from the American Collegiate Schools of Planning in 2005 and the Prestigious Alonso Prize in regional science in 2006.

She holds doctorate and master degrees in economics from Michigan State University and an undergraduate degree from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.

Selected Writings

California's Arts and Cultural Ecology

Nurturing California's Next Generation Arts and Cultural Leaders

Arts and Culture in Urban/Regional Planning: A Review and Research Agenda

Creative Placemaking

Los Angeles: America's Artist Super City

Native Artists: Livelihoods, Resources, Space, Gifts

Reining in the Competition for Capital

Crossover: How Artists Build Careers across Commercial Nonprofit and Community Work

Artists' Centers: Evolution and Impact on Careers, Neighborhoods, and Economies

Artistic Dividend: The Arts' Hidden Contributions to Regional Development

The Artistic Dividend Revisited

The Artistic Dividend: Urban Artistic Specialization and Economic Development Implications

The Case for a Substantial Minimum Wage Hike for Minnesota

The Case Against Privatizing National Security

The Distinctive City: Divergent Patterns in Growth, Hierarchy and Specialization

Courses Taught

For syllabi for the current or upcoming semester, please visit the University of Minnesota's Course Guide and look for the syllabus icon. If the syllabus is not there, contact the instructor directly. Syllabi are available in alternative formats upon request. Please contact Stacey Grimes at grime004@umn.edu or 612-626-1329 for assistance.

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